James Alfred Logie (83) of Orlando, Florida passed away on Monday, January 27, 2025.
He was born on December 5, 1941 in Bassett, Nebraska the day before his mother’s birthday and just two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. His parents, Lucie Elizabeth Lewis and James Milner Logie must have wondered what kind of world they had brought their only son into.
Jim spent his childhood in Saint Paul, Nebraska with his two older sisters, Elizabeth Faye (Huebner) and Alice Annette (Kysar) and his parents who both taught school. Sadly, Jim lost his father when he was just ten years old.
As a young boy, Jim became a licensed amateur radio operator expanding his world beyond his small farming community. This hobby, started by a lonely boy missing his father, became a life-long hobby and he was an expert Morse code operator and enjoyed building his own equipment and connecting with other operators around the world.
Jim attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (class of 1966) where he studied electrical engineering and met and married his wife of almost 60 years, Robin Joy Culver. His daughter, Kimberly Jane was born in Lincoln and his son, Kent Milner, was born in Dallas while Jim worked for Texas Instruments.
In 1972 the family moved from Plano, Texas to Orlando, Florida where Jim had a successful career at Lockheed Martin and became a licensed Professional Engineer.
In 1995 Jim learned he was in heart failure and after two difficult years, he received a heart transplant on April 26, 1997 at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. His “rebirthday” gave him 27 years and 9 months that he and Robin filled with love, laughter and travel.
His greatest joy came along in 2001 when he became Papa to his only grandchild, Sophie Elizabeth Reed. A few years after she was born he retired which gave him more time to take walks with her to pick flowers for Grammie, play bridge and bocce ball with friends, take his boat out on the lake, tinker around the house and travel the world with lifelong friends.
Our family is forever grateful to the family who chose to donate the heart that gave him the chance to live a full and complete life and to all the wonderful medical professionals who helped him over the many hurdles that transplantation brings. Hurdles he always faced head-on while never complaining.
All who knew Jim, liked Jim. He was kind, honest, funny and wicked smart—he was the very best of men.
A celebration of life will be held on Friday, February 14, at 10:00 a.m. at A Community Funeral Home & Sunset Cremations, located at 910 W. Michigan Street in Orlando.
The service will start at 10:00 a.m. and all guests are invited to join the family for coffee afterwards. A private family internment at Greenwood Cemetery will follow the service.
Flowers are welcome at the service or if you would prefer to make a donation in Jim’s name, please donate to UF Health Patient & Family – Transplant Housing Fund to support transplant patients and families who have financially challenging situations with lodging, meals, or travel expenses. Donations: https://www.uff.ufl.edu/giving-opportunities/017327-shands-heart-and-lung-transplant/
The greatest way you can honor Jim Logie is to be an organ donor and to tell your family of your wishes